Online Credibility and Digital Ethos: Evaluating Computer-Mediated Communication - A book edited by Shawn Apostel and Moe Folk - To be published by IGI Global: http://bit.ly/oESA7c

Introduction With the near ubiquity of smartphones, tablets, and laptops, acquiring and publishing online information has never been easier; however, increased access to consuming and producing digital information raises new challenges to establishing and evaluating online credibility. These challenges are important because they affect a broad range of meaning-making, both inside and outside of academia. For example, the events of the Arab Spring show that in the absence of what were traditionally seen as relatively reliable information sources, "unofficial" online sources deemed credible by a wide range of actors played a key role in successful uprisings.

Objective of the Book Offering chapters written by scholars from across the disciplines and from different countries, this book will provide general approaches to evaluating the credibility of digital sources, specific advice for popular websites, and techniques useful for a wide variety of digital genres.

Target Audience This book would be useful for a variety of academic disciplines, as students continue to utilize online sources in their research. Information literacy specialists would find useful the chapters which focus on particular types of popular sources like Wikipedia, Facebook, and iReports). Journalists and educators in the field of Mass Communication and Library Sciences would find the book useful in establishing protocols for approaching a wide variety of sources. Web designers and writers could use this book to establish a more credible online presence. However, we feel the target audience would be instructors of introductory level courses which involve research. Graduate students and academics could utilize certain chapters to establish a method for determining the credibility of a source they use for research purposes.

Recommended Topics Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:

We are particularly interested in submissions that situate how to evaluate and incorporate digital ethos and online credibility as part of researched arguments in various disciplines. While we expect many chapters will examine issues related to the displayed content of the sites in question, we also welcome chapters that evaluate the behind the scene effects on content such as research funding, domain holders, etc.

Submission Procedure Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before October 15, 2011 a 250-500 word chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of their proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by November 15, 2011 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by February 15, 2012. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.

Publisher This book is scheduled to be published in spring 2013 by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," "Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com.

Important Dates October 15, 2011: Proposal Submission Deadline November 15, 2011: Notification of Acceptance February 15, 2012: Full Chapter Submission April 15, 2012: Review Results Returned to Authors May 15, 2012: Revised Chapter Submission May 30, 2012: Final Acceptance Notification June 15, 2012: Submission of Final Chapters